SOLAR PLANT SURPASSES 1M PANELS

Milestone is at facility that starts exporting power next month

The millionth solar panel has been installed at a sprawling desert power plant that will feed energy to San Diego-area utility customers as soon as late spring, the project developer said Tuesday.

Omaha, Neb.-based Tenaska announced the milestone at its Imperial Solar Energy Center South, a utility-scale photovoltaic solar plant taking shape across nearly 950 acres of private agricultural land southwest of El Centro, adjacent to the U.S. border with Mexico.

Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar is supplying the project’s nearly 2 million panels, and acting as the construction contractor.

Vasu Pinapati, a Tenaska project manager, said the plant will start exporting power in April and go completely online in the fourth quarter. At full capacity, the installation can produce up to 130 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 44,000 homes.

A second Tenaska project, Imperial Solar Energy Center West, under development in the Imperial Valley straddling Interstate 8, will utilize close to 2 million fixed solar panels. It is scheduled for completion in 2015, with 150 megawatts of generating capacity.

The Tenaska projects are among a slate of large-scale renewable energy power plants under development in the sun-drenched Imperial Valley.

California utilities are pushing to comply with a state mandate to provide 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and recycled-wood burning plants. San Diego Gas & Electric signed a 25-year agreement to purchase electricity from Tenaska Imperial South.

Investment in large solar arrays also is being spurred by federal subsidies including a 30 percent tax credit and provisions for accelerated cost recovery.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management provided a right of way across public land for transmission lines and vehicle access to the Energy Center South project.

The price of power from the facility, though approved by state regulators, has not been made public under regulations designed to foster competition.